Human embryonic stem cells (HESCs) are usually isolated manually from the inner cell mass of an embryo grown in vitro by a skilled technician using a micromanipulator-controlled micropipette and microscope.

They would then take out the stem cells from its inner cell mass and dope them with the appropriate hormones and proteins to turn the stem cells into, say, heart tissue, which could then be used to repair your ailing heart.

In the latter case, the line between cellular life and organismic death is less clear-cut; in removing the inner cell mass from a blastocyst, the Thomson method is seen as killing an embryo that is still alive, albeit certain to die because discarded.

It does this by secreting protein-digesting enzymes that digest the outermost portion of the uterine wall, enabling it to bury itself there, with the side containing the inner cell mass, the "blastoderm," coming into contact first.

The Court appears to have clearly focused its decision on those processes relying on now dated traditional and destructive methods for generating embryonic stem cells from the inner cell mass of embryos, yet seems to provide for a continuing basis for patentability of process of generating human embryonic stem cells and products derived from those cells where non-destructive techniques can be used.

This low success rate is assumed to be a cumulative result of losses at different stages of pregnancy due to several unknown causes including chromosomal abnormalities, low cell number and altered inner cell mass (ICM) rate of blastocysts, irregular-sized blastomeres, and cytoplasmic fragmentation (Wang et al.

Worcester, MA) announced the decision of the Board of Patent Appeals and Interference, interference number 105,192, between itself and Geron Corporation over methods of producing cultured inner cell mass (CICM) cells, often referred to as embryonic stem cells.

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